


maybe i should let you go (or maybe i’ll wait)

by madgexal



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Could Be Canon, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Leaving, Mutual Pining, archie in the navy, idk how to tag, mutual I love you’s, post 4x18, who knows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:08:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23975791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madgexal/pseuds/madgexal
Summary: Betty and Archie have tried and tried and each time the timings off.But for several minutes, Betty is going to win.
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Betty Cooper
Comments: 3
Kudos: 47





	maybe i should let you go (or maybe i’ll wait)

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this at right after 4x18 aired and I had been swimming in thoughts and twitter so this is a total mess and completely self-indulgent. I am sorry you have to read this but I hope you enjoy!

Betty couldn’t believe she was here. 

She stood in front of the Andrews’ front porch, deliberating whether she was brave enough to knock. She was scared to but she was also terrified of letting Archie leave without having this conversation with him. 

Betty took a deep breath and ran her hands through her hair, which was down at the moment, having had a terrible headache all week. 

(But that may have to do with the fact that she and Jughead had broken up this week, when her and Archie’s kiss in his garage was leaked to the town of Riverdale.)

Just as she was about to chicken out, the front door opened. Betty’s head shot up to stare at—

Archie Andrews. 

His red hair, his freckles, his scar over his eyebrow from his bike. 

Betty swallowed. “Hi?”

Archie pursed his lips and lightly put his suitcase on the porch, dragging Betty’s attention to it. “Betty, hey.”

“You’re leaving.” It wasn’t a question. Betty knew Archie was going today. That’s why she was here, but she was a little surprised he was going right now. She thought they’d have more time. 

Archie hesitated. “Er,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “yeah. I am. I have to head to the airport for the naval academy.”

“Right,” she whispered. “Of course. This is probably terrible timing.”

Archie shook his head. “I always have time for you, Betts. What’s up?” He looked at his watch and winced, “Ok, well, for once I don’t. I have an hour. And it’s a 30 minute drive to the airport.”

“That’s all I need!” 

Archie set a timer on his phone. “You have half an hour, Cooper.” 

Betty started to fiddle with hair again before taking a deep breath. “Jughead left last night. Most of his stuff and his bike are gone.”

Archie nodded. “Damn, sorry Betty.”

She shook her head, “That’s just it, Archie. I feel,” Betty trailed off. 

“Feel what?”

“Relieved? I don’t know. It was already awkward sharing a brother while dating but now we share one as exes and I cheated on him.” 

Archie laughed mirthlessly. He walked forward and sat on the porch step. He motioned to it and Betty smiled weakly before sitting down too. 

“Betty, believe it or not, but you are allowed to feel however you feel.” Archie stared at her, his face deadly serious. 

Betty looked away. “I didn’t know how I felt. I’m so sorry, Archie.”

“Don’t be! If anyone should be apologizing, it’s me. I shouldn’t have expected you to, I don’t know, drop everything and jump into my arms? Is that the right thing to say?”

The two best friends giggled but quickly sobered up. The silence between them turned awkward but comfortable in the way that only two people who have known each other for so long can be. 

“Betty, why are you really here,” Archie whispered. 

She swallowed and looked at him. “I love you.”

Archie’s eyes widened. “You what—“

She held up her hand, “Let me finish.”

His mouth snapped shut. He nodded at her making her smile and shake her head, before her smile fell. 

“For my whole life, I have constantly been pressured to be perfect. The perfect daughter, sister, friend, girlfriend, civilian, mystery-solver. The perfect Betty Cooper.” She scoffed. “What a load of bullshit.” 

She turned towards him, as much as she could sitting on a small porch step. 

“But that’s the thing, Archie! I don’t know who Betty Cooper is. I thought I did, or used to at least, but that person? She’s dead. She died that summer. The minute Jason Blossom was abducted on the 4th of July and flipped Riverdale upside down. 

“And then I started thinking and reevaluating just who Betty Cooper is. Or, was, I suppose. I couldn’t think of a single time I was purely and completely myself.”

Archie opened his mouth to cut her off, his eyes narrowed. 

Betty grabbed his hand, “Except for when I’m with you.”

Archie inhaled sharply. 

“These past three years I have been pushed and pushed on who to be with and who to be. Kevin and V pushed me to tell you how I felt, and in some twisted way I’m glad they did because I needed that. I needed to know instead of moping around and helplessly pining. 

“Then I rushed into a relationship with Jughead Jones. And it worked out. He was there and he somehow understood me. While the relationship didn’t start with true feelings, I did grow to love him.”

Archie looked away from her at that. He nodded. “I know you did. I watched.”

“I watched you,” Betty insisted, “fall in love with Veronica.”

He nodded and licked his lips. Archie then shook his head. “Ok, what’s the point here, Betty? To tell me that this is all just you saying goodbye?”

Betty shook her head. “No, no. This is me admitting to someone that for once I’m choosing myself.”

Archie frowned. “So, what? You’re choosing no one? That’s fine Betty. Really. I want you to be happy with yourself. God knows you deserve it but I’m not gonna lie. I’m still confused and hurt—“

“Archie,” Betty laughed. “Do you know what I have heard way too many times in the past three years?”

“What?”

“The stupid word ‘endgame.’ I am tired of that word. Everyone told me that Jughead and I were endgame—“

“Veronica called us endgame too many times, too.”

“Exactly! Kevin called us endgame, for Christ’s sake! The point is, what does endgame even mean? Soulmates? The person you just end up with despite anything you may feel otherwise? I hate that word.”

Archie smiled. “It’s a pretty ridiculous word.”

“It is,” she nodded. “And I’m tired of it’s pressuring implications of forever. I’m going to choose what I want for once. Screw what Kevin, Cheryl, Veronica, my mom, this fucking town has told me my whole life! That I will be perfect and end up with whoever they think I should be with.” Betty swallowed. “Cheryl said I was in love with the idea of you. I find that stupid.”

“The idea of me or me?” Archie looked like he was scared to hear her answer. 

“Her thinking she knows how I feel. I didn’t even know how I felt!”

“That’s past tense.” Archie bit his lip and hesitated before pushing on. “What did you find out?”

“That for once I’m choosing me. What I want. Who I want to be. I’m still figuring out who that is but I know that when I’m with you I feel good. Better than I have in the past three years, maybe in most of my life.”

Archie smiled, a bright thing that filled Betty with butterflies. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. I want to be with you, Arch.” 

“I want to be with you, too, Betts, but this isn’t the best time to start this. Besides the fact that we both just got out of 3-year-long relationships, I leave for the naval academy in,” he checked his phone, “15 minutes. And you are going to New Haven.”

Betty nodded, her heart dropping. “I-I know.” She leaned her forehead against his, “But our timing has always been off.”

Archie laughed breathlessly before grabbing her face and kissing her. 

He pulled away, “Betty, that night after the closet fiasco, when I couldn’t return your feelings, that was the biggest regret of my life.”

Betty nodded, her lips brushing his. “I know. I’m sorry I couldn’t return your feelings after that day at the bunker. That’s the biggest regret of mine.” He kissed her again. She smiled before breaking away, tearing up. “We just keep missing each other.”

He nodded, sniffing. “Yeah, yeah we do. So why are you telling me this all now if you know we’re both leaving?”

“Because, Arch, you are too important to me to just let leave without saying something. Because I do love you. I love you so goddamn much that I don’t know what to do with myself.”

“I love you, too. So much.” He pressed another kiss to her lips. 

“Archie,” she gripped the arm still clutching her face. “I’m here because I’m hoping that if we ever meet again and we’re both ready, we can try this.”

Archie smiled. “Like a power couple?”

Betty laughed. “Shut up!” 

“I’d love that Betty,” Archie’s grin softened making Betty almost swoon. 

“I’m not saying to wait forever for me. I could never ask you to do that. If you find someone who’s perfect for you and you love, I want you to have the chance to be with them. Don’t hold yourself back for me.”

“I don’t want you to do that either, but I’m sensing a but here.”

“But,” she grinned, before looking into his brown eyes and just staring for a minute. She wasn’t sure what she was searching for but she knew she found it when he kissed her again. “But, if we both happen to be single and ready to be with each other, the timing works out, and it’s ok. No more Veronicas or Jugheads. Then, I want to try this. Us.”

Archie was silent. 

Betty grew worried, immediately overthinking. Of course it would be ridiculous to ask that of him! Why would he wait? He didn’t owe her anything. 

“You know, I’m the most myself when I’m around you, too. I like that Archie Andrews. He’s happy. I like being happy.” Archie nodded. “If the timing works out, then yes. I would love to be with you, Betty Cooper.”

Betty smiled before laughing. She grabbed his face this time and pulled him into a kiss. 

Before an alarm broke them apart. 

Archie looked down at his phone, his expression miserable and she knew that expression would be mirrored back on her own face. 

He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Betty. I’m so sorry I have to just leave like this after finally getting to be with you.”

“I know,” she whispered, a tear finally trailing down her face. She quickly wiped it away. “I know, Arch. But, we’ll be okay.”

Archie nodded. “We’ll be okay,” he repeated. He grinned, then. It was toothy and wide and completely Archie Andrews. “I love you.”

She giggled. “I love you, too.” 

Archie’s eyes traced over her, as if he was trying to memorize her, and he probably was. His alarm was still blaring on his phone and she finally shut it off. 

He sighed and pressed one more kiss to her lips. “I love you.” Archie stood from the porch and picked up his suitcase. He gripped it tightly, his face grim. He insisted, one more time, “I love you, Betty Cooper.”

She smiled. “And I love you, Archie Andrews.”

He stepped off the porch and walked to his truck and Betty watched him as he opened the door and threw his bag in. The engine turned over and then he peeled off from the street. 

He didn’t look at Betty once as he left but she wasn’t disheartened. 

She knew she loved him and that he, her. 

No matter what happened in the future, she knew there was a chance that if the timing worked out, she’d get to kiss him again. 

She thought that maybe she had a chance.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok but that episode messed me up. The content was actually so good after I calmed down. I can’t wait to see how they get exposed.


End file.
